Fall break

She loved taking a nap in this hammock.

 For Bryce's Fall Break we went camping down in beautiful Brown County. The trees were probably a little better the weekend before, but it was still pretty amazing. The weather was great the days we were there and the ground was dry so Daphne's rolling around in the leaves wasn't a problem. We were joined by our new friends the Dawsons, and had a really fun evening with them. Even though our darling girl decided none of us should get any sleep that night, it was still a good time. We didn't hike this time around, but we drove to some of the good vantage points, played with leaves and sticks and enjoyed the beauty of fall.

 On the way home we stopped at a pretty fantastic pumpkin patch. It was just on the side of the road, there was no hay ride or hike to get your gourd. Just plenty of beautiful, (and beautifully priced) pumpkins right there to choose from.

check out all those colors!

 

We also hit up Zaharakos Ice Cream parlor for lunch and made a stop at the outlets. I continue to be disappointed in the options for baby boy clothes. Every time I go shopping for little brother I come home with a new wardrobe for Daf.

Epic Road Trip

We went on a big summer road trip, and had a wonderful time. Unfortunately we majorly failed at taking pictures; I think we took 8 in two and a half weeks. Oops. So here is our big adventure in miles.
Indianapolis to Overland Park, KS: 8 hours 2 mins, 502 miles
-We stayed with Bryce's brother Kyle.
-Daphne played with her cute cousins and loved crawling all over 3 months younger Soren.
-Rested up for the next leg of our journey.
Overland Park, KS to Breckenridge, CO: 10 hours 36 mins, 685 miles
-Caravaned with Kyle and Kristen. Driving across Kansas was the most boring thing that ever happened to me. I was almost glad when my brother-in-law got pulled over because it broke up the monotony.
-Stopped in Highlands Ranch to visit our cute friends Tom and Ashley. They're having a baby soon!
-Stayed in an enormous cabin with the entire Fortner family.
-Went on a few hikes (nature walks)
-Road bikes.
-Survived the stomach flu.
-Played with the cousins.
-Whipped down a mountain on an alpine slide.
-Fell in love with Colorado. It's on the list of places I think I should live some day.
Breckenridge, CO to Yellowstone:9 hours, 17 mins, 506 miles
-Stopped in the charming old west town of Dubois, WY for Daphne's first camping experience.
-met up with my parents, brothers, Aunt and Uncle Geddes and Cousin Elisa and her family.
-Camped in Teton National Park for three nights.
-Saw a moose, elk, bears, pelicans and herons.
-Visited Old Faithful and bunch of the other awesome geysers and hot springs.
-Swam in a glacial lake
-Did a little hiking.
Yellowstone to Lehi, UT: 7 hours 7 mins, 402 miles
- Stayed with My brother Daniel and his family.
-Daphne played with some more fun cousins, and again enjoyed crawling over Beatrix whose 4 months younger.
-Went to 7 peaks
-Rented bikes and road down the Provo River trail.
-Wandered around BYU and relived our college days
-Spent time with my favorite sister!
-Went to a wedding reception for Bryce's old roomie Justin Hale, and hung out with some of Brycee's old friends.
-Ate venison steak, Yum!
-Decided we want to live in Utah. Too bad you can't spit in Utah without hitting a dentist.
Lehi, UT to Omaha, NE: 13 hours, 32 mins, 955 miles
-Stopped at possibly the coolest rest stop ever.
-Experienced humidity again.
-Stayed the Night With Bryce's sister Becky and her family.
Omaha, NE to Indianapolis, IN:9 hours, 37 mins, 608 miles
-Made it home to an air conditioned house and dinner in the fridge thanks to my amazing friend Courtney.
-Never felt quite so happy to be home.

So add in about 300 more miles for trips from place to place in each location and about 8 more hours in the car and that equals about 63 hours and just under 4,000 miles.
Yeah, it was long. Daphne was a stinker and I had to sit in the backseat with her almost the entire time. I was also nauseated the whole duration. But we had a great time. There were so many little good moments on this trip that in spite of everything, I think it was one of my fave vacations ever.

My favorite part of our trip was seeing Daphne and Bryce spend so much time together. Bryce pretty much took over the childcare. He changed diapers, took care of bedtime, managed meals and basically relieved me of parenting duties. He was amazing and besides the obvious enjoyment on my part, Daphne loves him a lot more now. Yay!

Spokane

We got to go home for one wonderful week. All my siblings made it home, which made the visit extra special. We spent a lot of time just sitting around enjoying the beautiful weather but we had a little excitement too.

We went out to see the Palouse Falls. I'd never been out there and the falls were raging. It was a spectacular sight.

My brother Daniel and his little family

Sweetest little girl ever.

Mom and Dad ( it was a very windy day)

The girls

The whole gang

Anna and I reliving our high school days with matching tiaras, cheer leading fleeces and, my favorite, the identical Pizza Hut name tags. We contemplated trying on our cheer leading skirts, but opted for dignity rather than depression. We plan on doing this every time we both go home for the next 80 years or so to document our progression through life.

Saw a couple of my little brother's baseball games. He's a total all-star!

My mom and sister + sister-in law threw a baby shower for me at Grandma Daines' house. It was beautiful and so sweet of them. I loved getting to visit with so many friends I haven' t seen in a while.

Mom, her sister Chris, Ali and Ann

Grandma, aunts and cousins

Friends from the good old Belle Terre Ward

Bryce's mom and sister

High school friends Celeste and DaNae
There was also 4th of July, lots of hikes and craft projects and the usual stuff. But the best part of going home was getting to see so many friends. Thanks to everyone who took the time to visit with me!

Baby Moon

It's been several weeks since we got back, but I'm finally getting this posted.
_________
Our trip to Jamaica was AMAZING!
We swam in the ocean and the pool, read a ton, laid in the sun, ate lots of good food and just relaxed.
We snorkeled a bunch, kayaked, went on a bamboo river raft tour, wind surfed, danced and took lots of naps.
We saw a Rastafarian midget, were offered illegal drugs by locals and and ignored all the weird looks we got each time we declined the free alcohol.

I always think I've taken more pictures than I actually have, but here are a few:


_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
___________________________________________ The entertainment

_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_


Hiking Dunn's River Falls

__________ Waiting to eat. So much good food = 10 new lbs for me.


_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

_

Catamaran cruise ride
( we use SPF 75, if you're wondering why we're both so pasty)


_

_

-

_

_

_

_

_
_

_ _ _ _ ________________________________ Fabulous Caribbean sunsets

___________________________ Enjoying being together

Getting pretty big







_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_


It was such a wonderful trip. I couldn't have asked for anything better!

I'm outta here!

Beach towel, sunscreen and a stack of good books. We leave for JAMAICA on Monday morning and I am ready!

Last night we tried to take a picture of the fireflies. There are so many, it looks like someone is dumping gold glitter all over the trees. But fireflies don't show up very well against the black.


Sometimes when Bryce is supposed to be mowing the lawn, he ends up playing around taking silly pictures. Usually they're of his dog, but sometimes he experiments with other subjects.

And here is the tummy at 26 weeks.

So I hope you all have a nice week. The Fortners will be in paradise!

Meet me in St. Louis, and Kansas City and Omaha!

We took advantage of Bryce's week off last week to do some sight seeing and family visiting in the Midwest.
______
First stop: St Louis, MO where we saw a Cardinals game,

Went to the zoo and the World's fair sight,
Visited the famous arch, and walked along the river where we could see the steam boats going up and down,
And went to the Temple.Next stop, Kansas. We got to spend a couple of days visiting with Bryce's brother Kyle and his wife Kristin. Their little girl is stinking cute, but I didn't get any pictures of her.
_______

We went to a Kansas City Royals game. The team pretty much stinks, but I think Kauffman Stadium is my favorite of all the ball parks we've been to so far.Then we hit up the church history sites in the area: Independence, MO, Liberty Jail, Far West and Adam ondi-Ahman. I loved the visitor's center at Indepedence. Their presentation about families was so touching, and the video segment of President Monson's talk on Finding Joy in the Journey Now was super inspiring.
We were the only ones at Adam ondi-Ahman when we visited. Incredibly beautiful and peaceful! (there was a shocking rainbow behind me, but you can't really see it)

And finally we stopped for one day in Omaha, NE to visit Bryce's sister Becky and her family. They took us to the Mormon Trail center and Winter Quarters temple. Another great visitor's center! I think my favorite part of this visit was while walking home from church, Charlie (four-year-old in the yellow shirt) asked me, "So what do you like about plants?" We discussed the subject all the way home. He likes trees and grass the best.

These kids are so well-behaved! I hope that's a trait all Fortner children are born with, and not just a result of Becky and Justin's superior parenting skills.

We didn't really get our fill of Bryce's siblings, but luckily we will see them in Seattle in a few weeks for a family wedding!

For our next summer trip we are going a little more exotic. Jamaica, I will see you in a few days!

Spring Break

No, my last post was not an April Fool's joke. I hate April Fool's. I don't like to think of myself as gullible, I just don't usually realize what day it is and end up getting all worked up by someone else's prank. We really are having a baby.

This week was so wonderful and went by way too fast. My week off from work included lots of house cleaning that I have been too sick/busy to do for the last three months, actually making dinner (which also hasn't happened in a long time,) going to the gym, taking long naps, enjoying the nice weather and going to the doctor to hear baby's heartbeat;such a happy, reassuring sound.

And this weekend was the best of all. How often do you get 85 degree weather in the beginning of April? Not a lot in parts of the country where I've lived. So we took full advantage and went camping in beautiful Brown County State Park with our friends the Turners (two pregnant women camping makes for lots of snacking and bathroom trips.). It was such a nice weekend with only a few hours of rain and lots of fun. And we made it home just in time for Conference Sunday morning and our traditional Easter dinner of Easter Bunny Poo (meatloaf.)

Sigh, having a week off definitely makes it hard to go back to work.

HAPPY EASTER!

No pictures you've noticed? Yeah, our camera is pretty worthless. Maybe some nice husband needs to get me one for my birthday!

I'd even be okay if anyone besides my husband wanted to get me a new camera!

Happy Christmas Break!

I'm so excited, I feel just like a kid getting out of school for Christmas...oh wait (I basically am!) There has not been a single year of my life I have been more happy about getting out of school for two weeks than I am this year, not even in high school or college.

I can't wait to sleep in, do some sewing projects, finally finish painting my upstairs and spend time with Bryce. This will be the first time I am not with my family for Christmas, and even though I'm definitely sad about it I'm also excited for a relaxed holiday here in Indianapolis and to have our first Christmas with justour little family.

Bryce finished his semester last Friday and has been livin' it up all week long. Let me re-phrase that; He's been diligently waking up early to drive me to work, then coming home and checking things off my honey-do list. Thanks Lovey!

What are you doing for Christmas break? Are you as excited as I am?